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Graffiti explodes across pandemic-era New York
NEW YORK, Dec 20, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Graffiti — part of New York’s history
for over 50 years — is flourishing during the coronavirus pandemic, a sign
of decadence for some, but vitality for others.
As dusk becomes nightfall, graffiti artist Saynosleep takes a quick look
around and then gets to work on a luxury store closed since it was looted in
June during protests over George Floyd’s death.
“If you’re not painting right now, I don’t know what you’re doing,” says
the 40-year-old, adding an expletive. “There has never been a time like
this.”
The facades of hundreds of store that have shut because of the pandemic
are “an invitation” to artists, says Marie Flageul, curator at New York’s
Museum of Street Art (MoSA).
Walls, bridges, sidewalks and subway cars — 34 of which have been painted
since the beginning of the month — are canvases.
“It’s a big surge, a renaissance of graffiti,” enthuses Saynosleep, who
uses a different pseudonym for his legal artwork.
Graffiti was first accepted by the art world in the 1980s when it moved
into galleries.
Expressive street art then captured the imagination of the general public
in the 2000s when it went from illegal to legal spaces.
But since March, it is the raw, illegal type of graffiti that has spread
in a disorderly fashion.
“Everybody wants to express themselves,” says Saynosleep, who says he has
seen a woman in her 60s drawing graffiti. “People are bored. They need
something to do.”
The growth of the Black Lives Matter movement following Floyd’s killing at
the hands of a Minnesota police officer in May has accelerated the trend,
with protesters scribbling racial justice slogans and demands on buildings.
– ‘Vandalism’ –
In a year when socialising has virtually stopped and streets no longer
throng with activity, graffiti is artists’ way of saying, “‘It feels like New
York is dead and you don’t see us but we are still here,'” says Flageul.
The creative impulses are not to everyone’s taste, however. New York State
Governor Andrew Cuomo said the graffiti was “another sign of decay,” along
with an increase in murders and shootings in New York City.
He indirectly blamed Mayor Bill de Blasio for supposedly taking a lax
attitude towards it.
Critics were also angry that the city government, over budgetary
constraints, axed its graffiti removal program that had cleaned almost 15,000
sites in 2019.
“I think it’s horrible,” said Darcy Weber, who has recently settled in New
York. “Some say it’s art, but did they get permission for that? No, so it’s
vandalism.”
For some, graffiti reminds them of the dark days of the 1970s and ’80s
when New York was broke and crime was rife.
“From the beginning of the shutdown, I’ve been seen by police and I kept
going, multiple times,” without being arrested Saynosleep says.
A spokesperson for the New York Police Department told AFP the force is
“fully aware of the importance of addressing graffiti-related crime,” and
said such incidents were down 17 percent from last year.
Flageul, who is also a spokesperson for the 5Pointz graffiti collective,
says it’s “a bit of a cliche” to say that more graffiti means New York is
regressing.
Brooklyn President Eric Adams, who wants to become New York’s mayor next
year, says tags spray painted onto public and private property “is quickly
destroying our borough’s landscape.”
“It costs home and business owners hundreds of thousands of dollars and
tremendous efforts to erase it,” he added, drawing a distinction between
“vandalism” and “amazing street murals.”
Ken Lovett, an advisor to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Chairman, noted that cleaning graffiti from trains is draining resources when
the MTA is facing “the worst financial crisis” in its history.
New Jersey resident Emile Fu says he’s not too bothered. “There’s other
things to be concerned about,” she told AFP.
Bryce Graham, who lives in the Chelsea neighborhood, said the graffiti
would shock him in somewhere like Ottawa “where everything is super clean.”
“But here in New York, it’s a hell of a mix of what is clean and what is
dirty,” he said.
BSS/AFP/MSY/0829 hrs